Live in San Diego is my first live performance. David Antin, my mentor when I was a graduate student at the University of California at San Diego, encouraged me to perform in front of an audience. Why? Since my videos directly addressed the camera- why not take the next step and address a live audience? I took on the persona of a stand-up comic because my most recent video at that time, Big Tip/Backup/Shut Out (1976) proposed that stand up comedy might be a potential back up career if I did not “make it” as an artist. My stand-up routine was comprised of jokes lifted from a joke book, and quasi-fictional anecdotes about my attempts to get into a New York gallery.
The performance took place in a black box space at UCSD in the theater department and had the “look” of a comedy club. The audience was composed of my professors and fellow grad students in the Visual Arts department. After my performance there was a critique. In hindsight, I should have also recorded the critique. A deconstruction of a stand up routine conducted by two conceptually inclined male professors was probably more entertaining than my own performance. This video is a document of the performance and is not edited. I do not have a record of the camerawoman’s name. My apologies.
- Susan Mogul